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Fracking rules need review, environment group urges

Ontario should close loopholes in its rules for handling fracking fluids, says the environment group Ecojustice

By John SpearsBusiness Reporter

Wed., Oct. 24, 2012

Ontario should close loopholes in its rules governing the handling of fluids used to extract natural gas, says an environment group.

Ecojustice has written to environment commissioner Gord Miller asking him to review Ontario’s rules for fracking fluids.

Fracking is a technique used to extract shale gas, which is abundant in eastern North America and has transformed the natural gas market, driving down prices.

Fracking fluids are injected at high pressure into rock formations that contain trapped natural gas. The injection breaks up the rock, and allows the gas to flow to drill holes and up to the surface.

But the chemical-laden fracking fluids also flow back to the surface, often mixed with salt water that’s been trapped underground for millennia.

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The practice has stirred opposition in Quebec and many communities in the U.S.

Ecojustice says that the rules for handling and disposing of those liquids aren’t stringent enough, because they’re exempted from some conditions of the province’s waste regulations.

That means they can disposed of by flushing into municipal sewage systems.

The group wants the exemptions for fracking fluids eliminated, and wants the fluids to be treated under rules governing industrial waste or hazardous waste.

That would mean the fluids would have to be analyzed and tracked, and would have to be pre-treated to eliminate dangerous chemicals before being disposed of.

Elaine MacDonald, senior scientist for Ecojustice, said in an interview Wednesday that Ontario hasn’t yet been targeted for shale gas drilling, but said there are geological formations in southwestern Ontario that contain shale gas.

“While we don’t have fracking in Ontario, let’s get the law in place as they should be, before the industry does start to undertake this practice here,” MacDonald.

She said the rule changes that Ecojustice is seeking can be done by the cabinet, without approval by the Legislature.

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